Hayashibara Museum of Natural Sciences Research Bulletin, vol. 3, pp. 19–28, March 31, 2010
© 2010 by the Hayashibara Museum of Natural Sciences, Okayama, Japan
Report of the HMNS-MPC Joint Paleontological Expedition in 2007
Mototaka SANEYOSHI
1
, Mahito WATABE
1
, Takehisa TSUBAMOTO
1
, Khishigjav TSOGTBAATAR
2
,
Tsogtbaatar CHINZORIG
2
, and Shigeru SUZUKI
1
1
Center for Paleobiological Research, Hayashibara Biochemical Laboratories, Inc., Okayama 700-0907, Japan
2
Mongolian Paleontological Center, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Ulaanbaatar 210351, Mongolia
Saneyoshi, M., Watabe, M., Tsubamoto, T., Tsogtbaatar, Kh., Chinzorig, Ts., and Suzuki, S., 2010. Report of the HMNS-
MPC Joint Paleontological Expedition in 2007. Hayashibara Mus. Nat. Sci. Res. Bull. 3: 19–28.
Abstract. We briefly report the Hayashibara Museum of Natural Sciences (HMNS) and Mongolian Pa-
leontological Center (MPC) Joint Paleontological Expedition conducted in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia
during the field season of 2007. In 2007, we visited the eleven Cretaceous fossil localities and one Paleo-
gene fossil locality of the Central Gobi Desert of south Gobi Aimag, south Mongolia. At each locality, we
collected vertebrate fossils and conducted a geological survey. Among the eleven Cretaceous localities,
the age of seven (Tugrikin Shireh, Alag Teg, Bayan Dzak, Abdrant Nuru, Udyn Sayr, Dzamin Khond, and
Khongil) localities is the Djadokhta (Late Cretaceous), that of one (Yagaan Khovil) locality is the Late
Cretaceous (possibly Maastrichtian?), and that of two (Khoovor and Titem Suwraga) localities is the Early
Cretaceous. Last locality (Bor Tolgoi), a new locality for us, is of Djadokhtan age. The one Paleogene lo-
cality is the Khashaat locality near Bayn Dzak. In this expedition, we collected 21 plaster jackets of verte-
brate fossils and many fragmentary fossil bones and teeth.
19
Introduction
During the field season of 2007, the Hayashibara mu-
seum of Natural Sciences and Mongolian Paleontological
Center Joint Paleontological Expedition was conducted
in the Central Gobi Desert of south Mongolia. The joint
expedition was carried out for the following purposes: (1)
Prospecting vertebrate fossils and geological survey in
Cretaceous dinosaur localities in the central region of the
Gobi Desert, especially of the Djadokhta age; (2) Prospect-
ing vertebrate fossils and geological survey in Paleogene
mammalian localities in the central region of the Gobi
Desert. This paper briefly reports the results of our expedi-
tion in 2007.
Abbreviations: HMNS, Hayashibara Museum of Nat-
ural Sciences, Okayama, Japan; CPR, Center for Paleobi-
ological Research, Hayashibara Biochemical Laboratories,
Inc., Okayama, Japan; MPC, Mongolian Paleontological
Center, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Ulaanbaatar,
Mongolia.
Members
The members of the expedition in 2007 are as follows:
Japanese side—total seven people:
SUZUKI, Shigeru (researcher, CPR)
WATABE, Mahito (researcher, CPR)
TSUBAMOTO, Takehisa (researcher, CPR)
SANEYOSHI, Mototaka (researcher, CPR)
KAWAHARA, Yasuhiro (preparator, CPR)
FUJIYAMA, Yoshito (preparator, CPR)
TSUIHIJI, Takanobu (researcher, University of Ohio,
USA)*
*, participated in the earlier half of the expedition.
Mongolian side—total eight people:
TSOGTBAATAR, Khishigjav (researcher/Land Cruiser
driver, MPC)
CHINZORIG, Tsogtbaatar (researcher, MPC)
OTGONJARGAL, Chultem (preparator, MPC)
BAT-ORKHON, Namjaa (preparator/Pajero driver,
MPC)
BAYARDORJ, Chagnaa (preparator, MPC)
SHARAVDORJ, Lkhagva (driver of new Gaz truck)
BAYARJAV, Tserendorj (driver of Zil truck)
SUVDAA, Jambaldorj (cook)
Materials
In this year, we used four cars: TOYOTA Land Cruiser,
MITSUBISHI Pajero, GAZ 66 truck, and ZIL 131 truck
with a water tank trailer (ca. 900 liter). The main materials
we brought to the field are as follows: four large camping
tents (for storage and sometimes base office and restaurant